Time to be less ABE and more Lincoln in World Cup

The Anyone-But-England brigade will be up bright and early tomorrow, whistling a merry tune and flexing the brims of their Panama hats.

ABE is a global brand with a reach probably broad enough to eclipse the combined support for Real Madrid, Barca and Man U and, of course, it boasts a particularly fanatical branch in our neck of the woods.

To those on the outside of football who find this bad neighbourliness a touch unseemly, it’s always worth pointing out — as I first did many moons ago — that it has very little to do with 800 years of oppression and a lot more to do with 30 years of Jimmy Hill.